Danny glanced at his clock for the thousandth time. Only a half hour had passed since he had come home. Time crawled at a snails pace, and it was driving what little insanity he had left out of him very quickly. He kept going over the last few weeks in his mind. What was going on? Was it really a ghost-puberty thing? Maybe he was just going insane. He shook the thought from his head and stopped pacing with a sigh. That's when he heard the footsteps, and a knock on his door.
"Danny?" he heard his mom's voice on the other side of the door, and what little color was in his ghost-like face left him. He dived for the bed, and threw his covers over his head.
"Danny?" He heard his mother walk in, and grimaced. Maybe she would think he was asleep. "Danny are you in here?" She was walking towards the bed, and she put her hands out, shaking him.
"Mom?" he asked from beneath the covers.
"Oh, I though you'd gone to the bathroom or something. I couldn't hear any breathing." Danny almost kicked himself. Of course she wouldn't hear breathing, kind of difficult to hear something that wasn't happening.
"Sorry mom," he said, trying to sound like he'd just woken up. "Is it still light in my room?"
"Yes, why?" she asked.
"Because, it hurts my head," he lied, wishing he didn't have to. One of these days (probably sooner than later the way things were going) he would tell them and not have to lie again. He just had to get up enough courage to do so.
"Okay, I just wanted to check on you," Maddie said as she left. Danny relaxed through the bed, and ended up in the darkness, dust and old pizza boxes that occupied the space beneath the bed. "That was too close," he told himself, standing up and walking back into his room. Once again he began pacing, and started the whole thinking routine over again.
-
"So what did you do all day?" Sam asked. Danny glanced at the screen of his computer where Sam and Tucker had just appeared a few minutes before. He'd been waiting for nearly an hour with his computer on.
"Paced a hole through my floor," He said sarcastically. "And almost drove myself out of my mind trying to figure out what's going on." He relayed his parent's conversation to them, sitting on his bed with his head in his hands.
"Woah," Sam said when he had finished.
"Ditto," Tucker took off his beret. "So, you can't change back?"
"I've been trying since I got home," Danny stood up, and started pacing again. "What if I'm stuck in ghost mode permanently?" he asked, "or what if this starts to happen all the time? Or–"
"Danny, that won't happen," Sam said, trying to get him to calm down.
"Come on, you've had problems with your power's before," Tucker replied.
"But not like this," Danny threw his hands into the air. "I–" A knock at his door froze him in his tracks.
"Who is it?" he called.
"Jazz," came the response. He slumped with relief and resumed pacing. "Come in." Jazz came into the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Mom said you'd been home sick all day," Jazz watched him as he circled the room.
"Yeah," Danny acknowledged, and for the second time, relayed his story.
"Wow," Jazz sat on the bed. "And now you can't transform back?" Danny nodded.
"I don't get it," he growled. "Why now? I've been thinking it's some sort of weird puberty thing, but...I don't know!" He plopped next to Jazz. "Even when I could change back these last couple of days, it only took the littlest thing to activate my powers."
"Well, what have you been doing recently?" Jazz asked, deciding to take the analytical view.
"Well...when it comes to my ghost powers, nothing really, except for two ghosts that both disappeared." He shrugged and looked at his sister. "They were actually really easy to take. I wasn't tired at all when they disappeared."
"Hmm," Jazz rubbed her chin. "Have you ever had any other automatic transformations that you can remember?" She asked. Danny thought for a moment.
"I don't remember any." He glanced at his computer screen. "Do you guys?"
"Only when he goes back to human after he's been knocked out, or dazed...or really tired..." she said the last phrase as if a revelation had come to her. "Wait, Danny, you said you've been restless lately, right?"
"Yeah," Danny nodded, "Kind of like I've had too much energy but don't know how to get rid of it..." He faded off, and his face now matched Sam's. "That's it! You think that because I haven't been using my powers as much lately that–"
"I get it!" Tucker grinned as if being let in on a joke. "It's like staying in one place for too long. Eventually you have to move!"
"Yes, Tucker," Sam rolled her eyes. Danny looked down at his hands again.
"Well it would make sense..." He looked over at Jazz suddenly, and a smile appeared on his face for the first time in over a day. "I guess there's only one way to find out."
"What?" Jazz asked, noticing his look. He simply grabbed her arm, and started flying out of his room.
"No, wait!" Jazz said, realizing what he was doing. They turned intangible, Danny dragging his sister through the wall with him. "DANNNNNEEEEEEEEEEE!" She yelled as she passed out of the room. For a few minutes nothing in the room moved, until Jack Fenton threw open the door with a stun weapon in his hand.
"Did you guys see the ghost!" he asked to the empty room. "Danny?" he lowered his weapon and stepped farther into the room. "Jazz?" his face suddenly paled. "Oh no..."
"Jack!" Maddie rushed into the room, "I have the Fenton Grappler! Where's the Gho–" She was cut off as Jack grabbed her arms.
"Maddie!" He looked her in the eyes, "He's got Danny and Jazz!" Maddie's shocked expression slowly melted into one of pure anger.
"He WHAT!" she yelled. When looking back on the incident, Jack couldn't remember ever seeing her so angry. She shook his arms off and walked back into the hall, steaming. "He'll regret that. To the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle." She rushed down the stairs, Jack hot on her heels, activating the ghost tracker. It wouldn't be hard to track this ghost. After all, they'd been analyzing the residue he'd left in the house all day.